A little over a year ago we were talking about the new perspective of terror, the so-called second life that is experiencing the subgenre of survival horror, now mainly through the first-person viewers. There are more and more teams that decide to develop their own horror adventure, and the current platforms-Steam in particular-have experienced a flood of different framing proposals, from low-cost independent best horror games on steam to triple offers and successful Kickstarter.

The next few months we will continue to receive expected news such as Agony, Visage, The Beast Inside, Moons of Madness, Call of Cthulhu, Scorn or Hunt: Showdown, while still waiting for a sample of Resident Evil 2 Remake. Meanwhile, in this special, we will review some of the most brilliant experiences of recent years focused on the field of best horror games on steam, that in the absence of completing the generation and can be included among the most relevant titles of this subject.

1. Resident Evil 7

Developer: Capcom

Platforms: PC, PS4 and Xbox One

Year: 2017

The return of Capcom to the purest approach to fear has been the greatest sign of quality in what we have been the generation. Resident Evil 7 is not another simple steam horror games in the first person, it is a sample of how to make a powerful survival horror with substance, for which it has a solid combat system and introduces effective game mechanics that move it away from the accused effect “Train of the witch”. In essence, the heart of the scariest games on steam feels like an authentic Resident Evil gone through a facelift.

The Baker mansion is a brilliantly designed stage on which other areas are added in a labyrinthine development full of puzzles, action, stealth and moments of exploration. That is joined by clashes against bosses for the memory and a tricky and charismatic story that works in a similar way to other great class B classics such as The Texas Chainsaw Massacre or Hellish Possession. And that’s not to mention the exceptional use it makes of the VR, in which it is a difficult exponent to beat.

2. Alien Isolation

Developer: Creative Assembly

Platforms: PC, PS4, Xbox One, PS3 and Xbox 360

Year: 2014

Creative Assembly surprised us in 2014 with one of the most remarkable adaptations that are remembered from the Alien Series, leaving behind the salads of shots and betting this time for stealth. In this way, Alien Isolation puts us in the shoes of Amanda Ripley, daughter of Lieutenant Ripley, who continues the events of the first film after the disappearance of the Nostromo. Through the first-person view, we go through the asphyxiating corridors of the ship, playing cat and mouse with the fearsome xenomorph loose. Although it was an intergenerational title, and in fact today it is difficult to find it beyond the digital versions of the current platforms, its influence is still noticeable. Everything a must of the genre.

3. Until Dawn

Developer: Supermassive Games

Platform: PS4

Year: 2015

From the bowels of the announced catalog of PS3 came this unexpected commitment to the third person in an adventure format of decision-making – in the clearest Quantic Dream style – about a history of a teenage slasher. Until Dawn drew attention when he finally landed for PS4 in 2015 thanks to that twist of the hand of Supermassive steam horror games, which collected familiar concepts under a vision rarely executed that worked wonders based on that cinematic view. Your footprint may not have been as noticeable as that of others, but how well it worked in sales serves as proof.

4. PT

Developer: 7780s Studio

Platform: PS4

Year: 2014

One of the biggest culprits in the resurgence of scariest games on steam was the intimidating Playable Teaser of what was to be Silent Hills, that canceled project by Kojima and Guillermo del Toro with which we feel a deep emptiness still today. The shocking experience of traversing his unique corridor, again and again, caused more than one to leave the command of sheer terror. Photorealism and its brilliant game design have created a whole school that is followed by much other recent survival horrors in the first person.

After the break between Konami and its creator, the Japanese company erased all trace of that demo and there is no access to it. Now, unless you downloaded it in its moment, it will last as a kind of urban legend of video games, making the mystery that surrounds it since its inception even greater. That’s why PT is much more than a game test, which is why it could not be missing from our list.

5. SOMA

Developer: Frictional Games

Platforms: PC, PS4 and Xbox One

Year: 2015

It can be said that Frictional Games became the parents of the modern steam horror games in Amnesia: The Dark Descent, the adventure that started all this escalation eight years ago and that was later compiled together with the sequel -created by the studio The Chinese Room- in Amnesia Collection. However, in these years we have left their game more consistent, a sci-fi underwater horror adventure.

SOMA transfers some of the ideas of its previous games to this new environment, but it also does it with a much more achieved atmosphere and a greater care of the narrative. Of course, the epicenter is still exploration and puzzles, while stealth is the mechanics that avoid combat, although a recent update gives us the option to deactivate encounters. Although it was released in 2015 on PC and PS4, last December it finally reached Xbox One; could also reach Switch.

6. Outlast II

Developer: Red Barrels

Platforms: PC, PS4, Xbox One and Switch

Year: 2017

Red Barrels is another of the new teams that have made a name within the survival horror. After debuting with the successful Outlast in 2013, the Canadians returned to the load last year with a much more mature delivery, demonstrating that they have put the batteries – never better said – to live up to expectations. All that translates into a more professional finish, especially the visual finish.

Outlast II takes the murky road of religion over the dark night places of the Arizona desert, where we must deal with the Antichrist. The pattern of hiding and exploring camera in hand returns, something that they manage to take to a new level through all kinds of crazy situations. And we can not stop recommending Outlast Trinity, a great pack with both games and the expansion of the first one at a good price.

7. The Evil Within 2

Developer: Tango Gameworks

Platforms: PC, PS4 and Xbox One

Year: 2017

Master Shinji Mikami made an appearance four years ago with his own project to return to the survival horror, that remarkable The Evil Within that, of course, enters our package of recommendations. And although it is no longer with him in charge, this time we have highlighted its sequel for greater proximity, a game that Tango Gameworks has taken to a wider range, but without revolutionizing too much.

The biggest leap is in the amplitude and the graphic finish, which is not radical in excess, but it shows the greatest freedom of development when working only on current platforms. Among the new additions are the secondary missions, which together with the opening of scenarios make it inevitable to think of Silent Hill: Downpour. A good balance between classic formula and modern conventions.

8. Remothered: Tormented Fathers

Developer: Darril Arts / Stormind Games

Platforms: PC (PS4 and Xbox One pending date)

Year: 2018

One of the latest incursions has been that of this Darril Arts project born as a tribute to the beloved personification of the Italian terror that is the original Clock Tower of Human. In fact, the development goes back to ten years ago, when it was still called Remothered and it was hardly a 2D game raised on RPG Maker. Its main creator, Chris Darril, resurrected the game last year – after collaborating on Nightcry and Forgotten Memories: Alternate Realities – as an ambitious trilogy, now in 3D.

Remothered: Tormented Fathers recaptures the essence of classic 3rd-person survival horror – especially the clocktower esque spiritual sequels of PS2 – with a worked history, some great character modeling and a classic best horror games on steam which is based on running and hiding. Music is also a very prominent section, created by the composer Nobuko Toda with the help of Luca Balboni.

9. Layers of Fear

Developer: Bloober Team

Platforms: PC, PS4, Xbox One and Switch

Year: 2016

The Polish studio Bloober Team began in terror with this interesting proposal of 2016, which quickly made a hole in the catalog of the genre. Layers of Fear makes a descent into psychological horror with the use of painting as the central theme and taking as setting a solitary Victorian mansion with great color treatment. It was released for PS4, Xbox One and PC, but is now available in Switch.

The scariest games on steam introduce changes in real time with simple camera turns that are the ones that guide the progress of the player, making the tension almost constant while we explore the rooms of the house. Although perhaps that is, in turn, its weak point since it resorts to excess to that effect and neglects a little the rest of mechanics, falling into a certain linearity. In spite of everything, the immersion makes it highly recommended and the only history keeps us intrigued until the end, so it could not be missing in this selection either.

10. Detention

Developer: Red Candle Games

Platforms: PC, PS4 and Switch

Year: 2017

Although the Asian terror has had diverse manifestations, almost always it is the J-Horror the one that monopolizes the most important works, followed by the Korean terror of equipment like Sonnori or Devespresso Games, the one of the Indonesians Digital Happiness or the Thai title Home Sweet Home. That is why Detention not only made a special entry for its quality, but it also presented us with the Taiwanese vision of Red Candle, which with a single development has already established itself as one of the great promises in this funk.

The game is set in the 60’s during the period of martial law known as the White Terror. Our character is a high school student surrounded by a dark evil that is based on the culture and mythology of Taiwan, all in a 2D style of point and clicks and lateral advance. He debuted first on Windows, OS X and Linux, but now it can also be enjoyed on PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch.

11. Observer

Developer: Bloober Team

Platforms: PC, PS4 and Xbox One

Year: 2017

If Layers of Fear was interesting, the next Bloober Team stop was even better. And is that the premise on which Observer rises could not be more intriguing: what would happen if we could hack the fears? Well, we would have a cyberpunk psychological steam horror games set in 2084 that have received excellent reviews and in this case is available for PC, PS4 and Xbox One. Analysis of objects in augmented reality, dialog trees, documents, collectibles, and even minigames come together in this futuristic Krakow starring detective Daniel Lazarski (Rutger Hauer).

12. Stories Untold

Developer: No Code

Platform: PC

Year: 2017

The original proposal of Stories Untold has no competitor either on this list or in the current catalog of video games. And it is that the Scottish team of No Code has created a prodigious episodic adventure of puzzles and text that keeps stuck to the screen in a masterly way, collecting the sensations of an interactive horror novel thanks to its immersion. The achieved graphics section, the ambiance of the 80s and the stamp of approval of Devolver Digital finish rounding off this atmospheric and chilling journey inherited from Japanese visual novels. The only downside may be that his four episodes become somewhat scarce, but he makes up for it with a tight price that invites us to recommend it without hesitation.

13. The Long Reach

Developer: Painted Black Games

Platforms: PC, PS4, Nintendo Switch

Year: 2018

The pixel art has been styled to a lesser extent to make scariest games on steam, but some have given good results. Painted Black Games seem to be inspired by what Jasper Byrne raised with his Lone Survivor years ago, only by following a somewhat more stylized look. The development is similar to a traditional 2D point-and-click graphic adventure in which we must solve puzzles with objects and choose answers to advance in the mysterious events that surround a failed experiment. The history and the mixture that makes of genres are its strong points, although the solutions can be made somewhat hard at times.

14. Darkwood

Developer: Acid Wizard Studio

Platform: PC

Year: 2017

Among all those hundreds of projects that come silently through Steam Greenlight is this Darkwood, which was presented years ago as a promising overhead vision that reminds of board games like the Zombicide and playable developments like Dead Nation. The Acid Wizard team managed to finish this atmospheric survival and action title -engaged in the middle of the forest- thanks to the financing obtained from the Indiegogo platform. It is translated into Spanish and is a very original sample that is based on decision making, skill progression, and resource management.

15. Project Zero: Maiden of Black Water

Developer: Koei Tecmo

Platform: Wii U

Year: 2014

The veteran saga of Tecmo, now linked to Nintendo, had its last major entry in the middle of Wii U’s life with this Project Zero: Maiden of Black Water, which recovers the conservative style that has always been licensed. The main novelty was the incorporation of the control of the Wii U command for the use of the Camera Obscura, with which we must take photos to put an end to the Japanese ghosts.

Although the console has had a very unworthy end of life, this is still one of those best horror games on steam that are worth keeping, and also one of those few recent experiences that recall the 128-bit era in the golden age of the survival horror. It would be a real kick if this delivery is recovered for the Switch catalog, making it more accessible for those who do not yet have it.